What could they do with the farms?
They had no horses or ploughs, no cattle to stock the land, no labourers to till it.
Above all, they had no women.

Flogging was the punishment for amours with Irish girls, and marriage with the idolatrous race was forbidden under heavy penalties.

Hence the soldiers pretended that their wives were converted to Protestantism.

But this was to be tested by a strict examination of each as to the state of her soul, and the means by which she had been enlightened.

If she did not stand the test, her husband was degraded in rank, and, if disbanded, he was liable to be sent to Connaught with the fair seducer.